This study tries to clarify the hypotheses made in the adoption of ‘incipient talk’ by demonstrating the multiple ways this term is employed within conversation analytic and linked studies and by explaining the inconsistencies of stated and/or tacit reasoning within and across these studies. Idiosyncratic uses and definitions prevail. This paper debates some uses and compares ‘incipient talk’ to potentially associated concepts like ‘open state of talk’, ‘unfocused interaction’, and ‘islands of talk’/‘Gesprächsinseln’. It offers suggestions for further inquiry in explaining whether ‘incipient talk’ exists and what it might be.